The Leader's Greatest Return Workbook

Attracting, Developing, and Multiplying Leaders

John C. Maxwell

• Publisher: HarperCollins Leadership
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780310111665
• eBook ISBN: 9780310111672
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Corporate Governance

What is the greatest return on a leader’s time?

After leaders have invested in their own leadership growth, what is the best way to accomplish their vision and grow their organizations and teams? Develop leaders! The more leaders an organization has and the better equipped they are to lead, the more successful the organization and all of its leaders.

In this new workbook, based on the title of the same name, number one New York Times bestselling author John C. Maxwell takes the process of developing leaders to the next level by relating some of the key principles he has learned over the last quarter century as his organizations have developed millions of business, government, and non-profit leaders from every country around the world. He instructs leaders how to . . .

• Recognize potential leaders
• Attract leaders by creating a leadership “table”
• Work themselves out of a job by equipping and empowering leaders
• Position leaders to build a winning team
• Coach leaders to higher levels and make them leadership developers themselves

This is where leaders really experience the compounding value of developing leaders and go to the highest levels of leadership themselves. The Leader’s Greatest Return Workbook walks you through the process and helps you create a roadmap for success.

Anyone who wants to take the next step in their leadership, build their organization or team today, and create their legacy for tomorrow needs to read The Leader’s Greatest Return.

Also available as a trade book.

LESSON ONE

EVERYONE WINS WHEN YOU

DEVELOP LEADERS

Why should you develop leaders? Why should you dedicate the time, effort, energy, and resources to help other people rise up and lead? Is it worth it? Can it really make a difference? Does the return warrant all the effort that’s required?

Absolutely! Everywhere you look, there is a leadership deficit. In countries all around the world, there are not enough good leaders. That is certainly true in the United States. I think Americans of every party would agree that there are not enough good leaders. The same is true at the state and local levels: we need more and better leaders. And in businesses, nonprofits, and families—there are not enough good leaders!

The good news is that leaders can be developed, and everyone wins when leaders develop other good leaders. If you are a leader—at any level or in any capacity—your organization will benefit when you start developing leaders. And you can do that beginning today.

I want to help you develop leaders. I want to show you the pathway to receiving the leader’s greatest return. There is nothing in this world that gives a greater ROI to a leader than attracting, developing, and multiplying leaders. It’s the key to success for any country, family, organization, or institution.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DEVELOPING LEADERS

It’s taken me decades to learn what I know about developing leaders. I’ve had my failures as well as my successes. I’ve poured my life into people only to have them walk away or disqualify themselves. I’ve seen potential in people who couldn’t see it in themselves, and as a result, never grew to be who they could be. I’ve been disappointed and discouraged in the process. But I will never give up. There is no better investment than developing leaders.

As you prepare to take this leadership journey, there are some things you need to prepare yourself for:

1. DEVELOPING LEADERS IS GOING TO BE DIFFICULT BUT WORTHWHILE

If you’ve ever led people in any capacity, I think you’ll agree that leadership is hard work. There are no two consecutive easy days in the life of leaders. If today is easy, you know how tomorrow will probably go. But everything worthwhile is uphill. If the purpose of life was ease and comfort, no sensible person would ever take on the demands of leadership.

Developing leaders is even harder. It’s like herding cats. That is why so many people who lead let themselves become comfortable attracting and leading followers rather than seeking out and developing leaders. Followers usually follow. Leaders, not so much.

However, the work of investing your life in developing other leaders has a high return. As my friend Art Williams is apt to say, “I don’t promise you it will be easy. I do promise you it will be worthwhile.”¹

At age twenty-five, I discovered that everything rises and falls on leadership. I believed that truth with great certainty, and it propelled me to develop myself as a leader. Today my conviction is even greater, and it drives me to develop other leaders. That task is worthy of my best efforts, it adds the greatest value to others, and it gives me great joy. Developing leaders is the one activity that compounds a leader’s time, influence, energy, vision, culture, finances, and mission.

2. DEVELOPING LEADERS IS A JOB THAT NEVER COMES TO AN END

When I realized the importance of leadership at age twenty-one, I began my intentional development as a leader. As I got started, I thought that at some point I would become a leadership expert. I wondered how long it would take before I reached the finish line. Five years? Ten years? Certainly by fifteen years I’d know what I needed to know, right? Today in my early seventies, I finally have the answer. There is no finish line! The more I know about leadership, the more I know that I don’t know. I am hungrier now to learn about leadership than I have ever been.

Gayle Beebe, the president of Westmont College in California, has studied leadership development extensively. In The Shaping of an Effective Leader, he wrote:

Our understanding of leadership does not come to us all at once. It takes time. In our instant-oriented culture we often want to short-circuit the thinking, reflecting and acting that mark our progressive development as leaders. Understanding how leaders develop and why they matter requires discernment, wisdom and insight.²

It also requires time. If developing ourselves as leaders is a lifelong process, then we should also expect the development of others in leadership to be an ongoing process that never ends. Just as individuals never arrive, neither do organizations.

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“I DON’T PROMISE YOU IT WILL BE EASY. I DO PROMISE YOU IT WILL BE WORTHWHILE.”

—ART WILLIAMS

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If you desire to fulfill a bold vision or do something great, you have to let go of a microwave mindset for leadership. The process can’t be done instantly. It’s slow, like a Crock-Pot. Anything worthwhile takes time. You must give up looking to cross a finish line and instead find your own internal fulfillment line. That’s something you can cross every day when you embrace the process of developing leaders.

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IF YOU DESIRE TO FULFILL A BOLD VISION OR DO SOMETHING GREAT, YOU HAVE TO LET GO OF A MICROWAVE MINDSET FOR LEADERSHIP.

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3. DEVELOPING LEADERS IS THE BEST WAY TO GROW ANY ORGANIZATION

When conducting leadership conferences, I am often asked about how to improve and grow an organization. The answer is straightforward. Grow a leader—grow the organization. A company cannot grow throughout until its leaders grow within.

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CONSIDER

In what ways have you tried to grow your team, department, or organization that did not include developing leaders? How successful were they?

[Your Notes]

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If you want to grow or strengthen your organization or department, start by developing those closest to you, because they will determine the level of success your team will achieve. The first law of leadership I wrote about in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is called the Law of the Lid, and it says leadership ability determines a person’s level of effectiveness.³ In other words, how well you lead determines how well you succeed. That’s true not just for an individual, but also for a group. How well they lead will determine how well the organization succeeds. A group of average leaders cannot build an above-average company. The potential leaders on your team are either an asset or a liability. As management expert Peter Drucker said, “No executive has ever suffered because his subordinates were strong and effective.”⁴

People too often overvalue their dream and undervalue their team. They think, If I believe it, I can achieve it. But that’s simply not true. Belief alone is not enough to achieve anything. It takes more than that. Your team will determine the reality of your dream. A big dream with a bad team is a nightmare.

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PEOPLE TOO OFTEN OVERVALUE THEIR DREAM AND UNDERVALUE THEIR TEAM. . . . A BIG DREAM WITH A BAD TEAM IS A NIGHTMARE.

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4. DEVELOPING LEADERS IS THE ONLY WAY TO CREATE A LEADERSHIP CULTURE

In the past decade, people have begun to realize the importance of culture ...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Lesson 1: Everyone Wins When You Develop Leaders
• Lesson 2: Identifying Leaders: Find Them So You Can Develop Them
• Lesson 3: Attracting Leaders: Invite Them to the Leadership Table
• Lesson 4: Understanding Leaders: Connect with Them Before You Lead Them
• Lesson 5: Motivating Leaders: Encourage Them to Give Their Best
• Lesson 6: Equipping Leaders: Train Them to Be Great at Their Job
• Lesson 7: Empowering Leaders: Release Them to Reach Their Potential
• Lesson 8: Positioning Leaders: Team Them Up to Multiply Their Impact
• Lesson 9: Mentoring Leaders: Coach Them to the Next Level
• Lesson 10: Reproducing Leaders: Show Them How to Develop Leaders
• Lesson 11: Compounding Leaders: Receive the Highest Return of Developing Leaders
• About the Author
• Endnotes